was not afraid, but he did not relish the
indignity that was proposed. He resolved to fight to the last ounce of
his strength against the masked lads.

"Can we get a kettle to heat the tar in?" asked some one.

"We'll find one," answered Sam Snedecker. "Come on, let's do it. You'll
look pretty, Tom Swift, when we're through with you," he exulted.

Tom did not answer, but there was fierce anger in his heart. The tar
and feather proposal seemed to meet with general favor.

"Members of the Deep Forest Throng, we will hold a consultation,"
proposed the leader, in his assumed deep voice. "Come over here, to
one side. Brother Number Six, guard the prisoner well."

"There ain't no need to," answered a lad who had been instructed to
mount guard over Tom. "He's tied so tight he can't move. I want to hear
what you say."

"Very well then," assented the leader, "But look to his bonds."

The lad made a hasty examination of the ropes binding the young
inventor to the tree, and Tom was glad that the examination was a hasty
one. For he feared the guard might discover that one hand had been
worked nearly free. The young inventor had done this while he leered at
his captors.

Tom was not going to submit tamely to the nonsense, and from the moment
he had been tied, he had been trying to get loose. He had nearly
succeeded in freeing one hand when the crowd of masked boys moved off
to one side, where they presently began to talk in excited whispers.

"I wonder how they came to catch me," thought the prisoner, as he
worked feverishly to further loosen the ropes. "This looks as if it was
a put-up job, with the masks, and everything." Later he learned that
the idea was the outcome of a proposal of one of the new arrivals in
town. He had organized the "Deep Forest Throng," as a sort of secret
society, and Andy and his cronies had been induced to join. It was
Andy's proposal to capture Tom, though, and, having seen him depart for
Mansburg on his motor-cycle, and knowing that he would return along a
road that ran near the woods where the Throng met, suggested that they
take Tom captive. The idea was enthusiastically received, and Andy and
his cronies thought they saw a chance to be revenged.

Tom, while he picked at the ropes, listened to what the boys were
saying. He heard frequent mention of tar and feathers, and began to
believe, that unless he could get free, while they were off there
consulting, he might be forced to submit to